WOMEN WITH PAST HISTORY OF BONE-FRACTURE HAVE LOW SPINAL BONE-DENSITYBEFORE MENOPAUSE

Aims. Recent work from our laboratory has demonstrated that young girl s with bone fractures have low spinal bane density more often than gir ls who have never fractured. This study was undertaken to determine wh ether adult women approaching menopause who have any past history of f racture have lower spinal density than women who have never fractured. Methods. A lifetime fracture history was taken from all premenopausal women (n=59) enrolled in a clinical trial examining the effect of men opause on cardiac risk. Bone mineral density of the lumbar spine was m easured at study entry by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (Lunar DPX- L) and results from patients with and without fracture were compared. Results. Women with a previous history of fracture (n=23) had signific antly lower bone density (6% less) than the women who had never broken a bone (n=36). Conclusions. We conclude that women who report a previ ous history of fracture, either as young adults or in childhood, shoul d be targeted for perimenopausal screening for osteoporosis since they are likely to have lower bone density and a greater risk of future fr acture than women with no past history of fracture.